The Calm After the Storm

Our sleepy little corner of the world hit the news yesterday with winds recorded up to 94mph. I was fortunate enough to be only minimally affected myself. I was on my way to an appointment when I rounded a corner and found the road blocked by a massive tree which had taken a power line with it as it fell. I rerouted and arrived only slightly late.

However, this morning I intend to investigate further....I have an afternoon engagement, blogs to write, Etsy items to list, emails to send, a house to tidy, and a million other things to do. But the sun is shining, it takes twenty minutes to drive to my favourite beach, and who knows what the storm will have washed up? I'll let you know if I find anything good....

What's an Artist to Do? A Glimpse into the Studio...

I spent such a huge portion of this year on the beach or outside that up until recently I felt I'd done very little creative work. I'm beginning to make up for lost time now, but the problem is that my to-do list always far outstrips the time I have to work.

There are far too many works-in-progress to cite here, but just a few of them include:
*A selection of knitted zombies and accessories including clothing, organs, etc
*A patchwork lace curtain for my bedroom
*A knitted blanket tracking this year's temperatures
*A knitted scarf tracking my mood this year
*Some wall art based on vintage embroidered table linen
*Several pieces that need dyeing or re-dyeing - an art I have not fully mastered
*A cardigan which needs embellishments to match a skirt
*A hand-sewn dress which needs the seams reinforced by machine
*A pair of trousers with new waistband halfway through being attached
*Two Mermaid's Grotto wall art pieces that just need borders and backing
*A box full of decoupaged bottle vases that need finished off
*No less than three sculptures for an exhibition I envisioned early last year on which I have made good headway but never finished
*A whole slew of mixed media images I've started on to decorate my bathroom but never got round to finishing
*A pair of embroidered sugar-skull cushion covers
*A Christmas tree skirt I have begun to mend
*Gorgeous wrist cuffs that desperately need lined to make them ready to sell
*Folk-painted spice racks for the kitchen
*Dining table is still waiting for me to finish stripping back the hideous honey pine varnish and repainting bits of the legs
*A "flotsam fairy"
*A shadowbox of Italian shells

And there are even more ideas which so far exist almost entirely in my head (barring, perhaps, some of the necessary articles to make them):
*Linen trousers
*Linen smocks
*Linen tunics
*A jersey skirt for the gym
*Knitted legwarmers
*Many more aprons and pinafores in different styles
*Purple knitted lacy shawl
*A bag for collecting shells incorporating a waterproof cushion for sitting on the beach on damp days
*Chrstmas baubles
*A new Christmas tree skirt
*An overskirt using the amazing silk panels I bought in Italy
*A dress to sell using the amazing silk panels I bought in Italy
*A portable grotto (yes, you read that right)
*An anatomical charm bracelet
*Bunting for a friend
*An embroidered banner for another friend
*A mosaic-type mixed media image incorporating paper and broken glass
*Bell jar necklaces
*Wearable art pieces based on the many designer seconds I have bought in Italy
*Display shadowboxes of my favourite seashells
*Several plain cushion covers crying out to be embellished
*A patchwork skirt of vintage doilies
*A quilt
*A garden blanket a la Jan Messent
*Anything at all crocheted
*A doll's house
*More art dolls
*Everything else...

Plus product photography, marketing, social media, sales, workshops, and at some point perhaps even an attempt at having a social life. Or is that just too much to ask?

Entering the 21st Century

It's easy to become isolated as a self-employed artist working mainly from home. When work is going particularly well, I can disappear for days on end as I hermit away, surviving on cereal and resenting the few hours of sleep I grudgingly submit to. So it's always interesting when the opportunity arises to do "normal" work things, such as the 9-5 crowd might do.

Yesterday was one of those days. I had the chance to attend a training day which an excellent local community arts organisation offered, on the topic of using social media for creative businesses. It's great to have a chance to network with other arts professionals, they are always interesting people and I have never come away from such an event without learning something. It's also a useful way to remind myself that the arts industry does not just pertain to visual arts and craft - as a non-performing, non-musical type, I genuinely forget that arts organisations support these good folk too! As well as myself there were two other visual artists (one who painted, one student who took our breath away with a highly detailed, hypnotically beautiful drawing), a costume designer, a drummer, a performance artist, and representatives from a couple of different arts organisations.

This particular workshop was facilitated by Teresa Carnall of TBC Marketing who was absolutely excellent. She had her work cut out for her as none of the group were particularly social media-savvy, but there was still a wide variance in both the skill levels and needs of the participants. Despite these challenges, Teresa delivered one of the most useful training events I have ever attended. My only regret is not having a chance to chat with her in more detail about specifics, as I suspect I could have picked her brain very nearly clean!

Anyway, the upshot of this is that I am developing a Social Media Plan. You heard me right. There's going to be a plan. It might even be a cunning one. So look out for a much bigger online presence for Vagabond Romantics over the coming months, and do let me know if there is anything particular you'd like to see more of here. I aim to please.

Dance Me to the End of Love

RIP Leonard Cohen, 1934-2016

I remember the first time I heard Leonard Cohen. I had popped into a record store to visit a friend who worked there. He played an album for me - I don't even know which one - and I was immediately taken with it. I was a teenage wannabe who was only just beginning to find the cultural vocabulary to express who I was, and I'd never heard anything like this but I knew immediately that I had wanted to.

As with many of the other musical icons who have died in 2016, it would be presumptuous to claim I was a Leonard Cohen "fan". I never properly "pursued" his music, I didn't educate myself. I liked what I heard but I never got round to "properly" listening. A bit like Bowie, I didn't have to - his music was just there, woven into the fabric of my world as I got older, and I didn't seek it out specially because it always had a way of finding me.

This year feels unprecedented in the number of icons lost. I know that great public figures die every year and the loss of the people who shaped my world will happen more and more as I get older, but I haven't yet prepared for artistic losses of the scale we've suffered in 2016. The following lyrics have been running through my mind this year as I mourn not just Leonard, but all the great trailblazers who spoke to misfits like myself.

A dream
Or a song
That hits you so hard
Filling you up
And suddenly gone

...And you're shining
Like the brightest stars
A transmission
On the midnight radio
And you're spinning
Your new 45's
All the misfits and the losers
Well,you know you're rock and rollers
Spinning to your rock and roll

 

Coming Soon to Etsy Shop!

Took advantage of another sunny interval to visit the beach for another quick photo shoot. Here are some of the items that will be listed in the shop over the next couple of weeks. Please do email in the meantime if you spot anything you can't resist!

The Elephant in the Room

Normally I would avoid politics in this sort of blog, but as an American citizen (albeit non-resident for most of my life now) I cannot ignore what has happened in my birthplace yesterday. I was never a great patriot - in my experience, one country is much like another and the good usually balances the bad out. Furthermore, none of us have any say in where we are born, so it has always seemed a little strange to me to get too hung up on such matters.

That being said, the ideals the United States was founded on are pretty sound, for the most part. And my life there certainly wasn't unhappy or unpleasant. So it is a shock to the system to feel that the country where I grew up no longer exists or, if it does, it's facing extinction.

I welcome interaction with people of opposing viewpoints, I love learning from others and am always happy to take part in an intelligent debate. But this election went beyond that, it seems that the far Right is driven not by intelligence or conviction anymore, but by pure hatred and greed.

To all my American friends and family who no longer feel safe in the land they call home, my heart breaks for you. Please know that the rest of the world is on your side, and let's work together with love and compassion to heal the rifts that have been create and will undoubtedly widen over the coming years. 

Italy, again...

I keep talking about finding inspiration in Italy - where do I find it? Aside from the haberdashers and the market, that is...It's hard to predict but it can be almost anywhere. For example:

The colours in this sweet shop window (check out those meringues!)

This spectacular sculpted wall

 These amazing door knockers.

Grand religious art tucked into unassuming corners

This very saucy cake (the Italian name was translated for me as "Nun's Tit" so no, it's not just your filthy imagination...)

Ceramic wall plaques in the town of Faenza (which is famous for its majolica pottery).

The colours of a doorway.

The texture, elegant lines and sheer scale of this rather austere church.

The ceiling of this bicycle hire place.

This riverside cafe with its eclectic seating and picture-postcard views

Random architectural details

The colours of this charming boat in a canal by the sea (not to mention the fact that there is a canal running down the middle of the High Street)

Stylish bikes artfully tumbled against every wall

Display cases full of pastel treats as stylish as a rack of designer dresses

This highly covetable, convertible vanity table - I'll bet Emma Peel had one of these!

And of course the beach....but that is another post!